The following is a legend that was handed down by earliest settlers of Jackson County. The story took place long before the first Spaniard set foot in Florida and on Blue Springs near Marianna. The spectacular natural fountain is the only first magnitude spring in the entire Chipola River Basin. The state and most divers now call it Jackson Blue Springs.

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A war once raged in eastern Jackson County. The Chacato, a Native American group that had intruded into Florida from the north, established settlements between Holmes Creek and the Chipola River. They soon began to raid the towns of the Apalache Indians who lived east of the Ochlockonee River around present-day Tallahassee.

The Apalache fought back and the region between the Chipola and Apalachicola Rivers became a depopulated buffer zone that separated the warring chiefdoms. The attacks and counterattacks continued but neither could defeat the other and the war bogged down into a bloody stalemate.
It was in this time of conflict, the Blue Springs legend holds, that a young woman of the Chacato stumbled upon a young warrior of the Apalache. The two fell in love but kept their romance secret because they knew that their families would object.

Another view of the cave from which the crystal clear water flows. Photo by Alan Cox.

The young woman, however, was the daughter of the most powerful Chacato chief. Her father hoped to form a military alliance with the Chisca, a militaristic group that lived along Irwin’s Mill Creek and the Chattahoochee River as well as to the west along the Choctawhatchee and in what is now South Alabama. The Chisca were fiercely independent and involved in a war of their own against the Apalache.

The chief of the Chacato offered his daughter as a bride to the young war chief of the Chisca in a gesture that he hoped would cement the proposed alliance. The latter group agreed to the proposal and a wedding was scheduled on neutral ground at Blue Springs.

The prospective bride, however, pleaded with her father and in tears begged him to call off the marriage. He refused and ordered her to comply with his will.

The young woman’s desperation grew as the hour approached and she concluded that she could not allow the marriage to happen.

A view of Blue Springs as it flows off into Merritt’s Mill Pond.

Crowds of Chacato and Chisca gathered at the spring for the ceremony but instead watched in stunned disbelief as the young woman suddenly bolted for the water. Before anyone could stop her, she leaped into the spring and dove down deep through the clear water and into the mouth of the submerged cave itself. All efforts by the bravest warriors to find and save her ended in failure.

At this point her true love arrived on the outskirts of the camp, determined to rescue her from her pending marriage. The scene of panic that he saw from his hiding place confused him and it took until sundown that he was able to learn that his beloved had taken her own life by diving down into the spring.

The young warrior waited for darkness and then walked down into the spring himself. He too dove down into the cave and disappeared forever in its depths.

Two Egg TV’s Rachael Conrad films a view of the water rising from the spring.

The chief of the Chacatos was despondent and filled with regret over the loss of his daughter. He walked down to the spring at sunrise the next morning to think and express his grief. As the ray of the rising sun penetrated to the bottom of the spring, however, he saw two figures standing there in the shadows at the mouth of the cave. They were holding hands. He knew that it must be his daughter, Calistoble, and her beloved.

The chief decreed at that moment that the spring would bear his daughter’s name. People from any tribe or nation could come there without fear to enjoy the cold water, beautiful forests and abundant wildlife. It remained known as Calistoble Spring for many years.

The chief’s decree also came with a serious warning. If anyone should disturb the beauty of the water where his daughter’s spirit remained, the spring would stop flowing and become nothing more than a stagnant pool.

The Chacato and Apalache eventually disappeared from Florida, the victims of war and oppression. The Creeks and Seminoles that followed, however, abided by the powerful declaration of the ancient chief and preserved Calistoble as a place of recreation, beauty and peace. They also handed down the old warning that damaging the beauty of the spring would bring about its death.

The cave at Blue Springs. Photo by Alan Cox.

Visitors claimed that the spirits of the lost lovers could be seen moving in the waters of the spring on moonlit nights, constant reminders of the long ago tragedy and a father’s warning to to any who might disturb his daughter’s peace.

Blue Springs continued to flow through times of war and peace for hundreds of years after Calistoble and her lover disappeared into its depths.

The Spanish never settled at the spring but preserved it as a stopping place on their journeys into the Florida Panhandle. They continued to call it Calistoble and marveled at both the crystal clear waters and the surrounding hills on which grew wild grapes in profusion. Bison (buffalo) roamed the slopes and drank from the spring.

The British and Americans that followed changed the name to Big Spring and then Blue Springs. The ancient Chacato chief’s warning against damaging the spring was forgotten as early entrepreneurs arrived on the scene.

One such developer viewed the rapid current with awe and speculated as to the profits that he could make if the spring was dammed to power grist, saw and cotton mills. Plans were prepared and a date set for the beginning of construction.

Judge Francis B. Carter, who first recorded the story of the Spirit of the Spring.

The Spirit of the Spring watched from within her watery domain: It is not known until this day how the spring became aware of the business man’s purpose. It is thought that the wind whispered the secret to her while on a moonlight visit. She, who from Creation’s dawn had remained unmolested, now conceived the idea that her privilege – the privilege of being beautiful – was about to be invaded, and that she would be forced to do menial service, which would not only mar her beauty, but degrade her to the level of an ordinary water course. She could not endure the thought of adding an artificial growth, and sitting by the side of a great wheel, turning it all the day long and far into the night. She rebelled at the thought of such desecration and resolutely determined not to submit. The sordid hand of commerce might mar, but it should not forever destroy the beauty and wild freedom of this romantic spring.

The above passage was written by Judge Francis B. Carter of Marianna. He owned the beautiful old Ely-Criglar Mansion from 1889-1900 and was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Florida in 1897-1905.He wrote the story of the Spirit of the Spring in 1907:…At great expense a building was erected for the mill; the miller’s house arose among the oaks, a dam was constructed a few yards below and the Spirit of Commerce gloated over the prospect of its almost brutal conquest of the fairest and loveliest spring in all of Florida. An immense undershot wheel was put in position, the breach in the dam was closed and the Spirit of Commerce took his stand by the side of the waters, awaiting the moment when the clear and limpid element should rise to a sufficient height to do the menial service of turning the great wheel.

Merritt’s Mill Pond as seen from the bluff over Shangri-La Spring.

The dam discussed in this story was not the one associated with Merritt’s Mill where U.S. Highway 90 crosses the foot of the mill pond, nor was it the one at the midpoint of the pond that provided power for Coker’s Mill. The first dam was at the spring itself. Heavy wooden beams from the mill can still be seen on the bottom of the swimming area, especially during occasional draw downs for control of aquatic growth.

…The energetic and farsighted business man whose brain conceived the plan took his place near the mill, and awaited the event which, though it destroyed the romance surrounding the spring, would add to his commercial enterprises another great source of income. The breach was closed, the waters poured forth with their accustomed vigor for a few hours, and then the flow began to decline. The waters which before, from time immemorial, had been free, which in their wild freedom had danced and sparkled in the sunshine, humming low melodies, clear as crystal, cold as an Arctic river, now refused to the work appointed by the Spirit of Commerce.The sudden halt in the flow of water from the spring stunned those who waited to see the undershot wheel of the new mill begin to turn. A few older members of the community, however, remembered the ancient legend of Calistoble and her lover. They knew the answer to the mystery that puzzled those who had gathered to see the mill begin its operation:

The water stopped flowing at the sound of the spirit’s voice. Photo by Alan Cox.

…The Spirit of the Spring laid her hand upon the opening and said to the waters: “Come not forth,” and they obeyed gladly. She furnished other outlets for some, drove others back into the bowels of the earth, filling surface wells on neighboring plantations, supplying waters for new springs and lakes never before heard of, but refusing absolutely to supply the power requisite for the great wheel. The waters of the spring ceased to flow, they assumed a lifeless appearance, the long green moss settled upon the bottom gasping for breath, a dark green substance rose to the surface and like a thick veil hid the waters from view.Judge Carter, a boy at the time, was among those who witnessed the stopping of the spring. He knew that the Spirit of the Spring was responsible:…She mourned and would not be comforted, but she consistently refused to do the work assigned. The great wheel and the mill house which marred the beauty of the spring and had brought about all the trouble, remained idle and vacant, and the Spirit of Commerce, try though he did, could neither coax nor drive.

…The Spirit of the Spring came forth and removed the dark veil that so long had covered the face of the waters, the water began to dance and sparkle and sing as of yore, the long moss, now a dull lead color and lifeless, rose from the bottom, assumed its accustomed hue, waving its long arms in gladness and joy, now rising to the surface to be kissed by the sunbeams and caressed by the breezes, now falling to the bottom, forming momentary hiding places for the fishes and the turtles.

Blue Springs (or Jackson Blue Spring) is the only first magnitude spring in the entire basin of the Chipola River.

The mill was a failure. The beautiful Blue Springs, just as the Chacato chief had warned centuries before, turned into a stagnant pool. It remained so until the businessman responsible for damming it gave up his project and began to dismantle his mill and dam.What remained of it finally rotted and broke to pieces.

The story, however, did not end there. The Spirit was so angered by the effort to commercialize the spring that she turned harsh and vengeful. The rushing water that now poured from the cave dug deep holes in the lime rock bottom of the creek that flowed from the spring.

These holes and caves have claimed many lives through the years:

…Woe to the heedless one who, tempted by appearances, enters one of these seductive places for a bath. Better heed the warnings which the angry waters – angry because obstructed by the remains of the dam – continually thunder forth to the unwary, for the icy coldness of these beautiful waters will chill the blood, and the Spectre of Death will rise from the spring as it has risen, since the Spirit of Commerce hardened the heart of the Spirit of the Spring.

Future efforts to dam Spring Creek were more successful with the resulting mill pond being among the clearest and most beautiful lakes in the world. Those dams were placed far downstream, however, in order to preserve the natural beauty of the spring.

The Spirit of the Spring still resides in its depths with her beloved. They can be seen there, standing in the shadows, when the light of the full moon strikes the water just right. Their love for each other and the beautiful spring that they protect still endures. Woe be to those who would disturb the peace and beauty of their watery domain.

To enjoy a journey into this magnificent Florida spring, click the play button in the video box below to join Rob Neto of Chipola Divers, LLC for a trip deep into its beautiful and mysterious caverns:

We are pleased to announce the release of our new 20-minute documentary Battle for Fort Mims. You can watch it FREE on the Two Egg TV Roku app or on Amazon Prime!

The film tells the story of the 1813 retaliatory attack on Fort Mims by Red Stick Creeks. It was a pivotal event in Alabama, U.S. and Muscogee (Creek) history.

Fort Mims was a rough log stockade thrown up around the home of Samuel Mims in the Tensaw settlement of what was then the Mississippi Territory. A civil war was then underway in the Muscogee (Creek) nation and frontier settlers flooded into the fort after militia troops launched a failed attack on Red Stick warriors at the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek.

Infuriated by the unprovoked attack and deaths of members of their party, the Red Sticks organized a large army for an attack on Fort Mims. They arrived to find the fort ill-prepared for defense and its front gate wide open.

To learn more, please watch “Battle for Fort Mims” using the Amazon Video app on your smart tv, Roku device or Amazon Fire Stick. You can also just click this Amazon image watch it free on your computer or other device:

]]>Mystery Structure found in Southwest Georgia Lake!http://twoegg.tv/2018/02/jacksonsoven4/
Sat, 10 Feb 2018 10:57:32 +0000http://twoegg.tv/?p=1318Jackson’s Oven, a mysterious stone structure not seen in 60-years, has been rediscovered by a joint Two Egg TV and Chipola Divers, LLC expedition!

Click the play button to watch the actual discovery:

The structure is located in the Spring Creek arm of Lake Seminole, a 37,500-acre reservoir on the border of Georgia and Florida. Its unusual design has led some to speculate that it might be of ancient Mayan or even Viking construction.

View of the top of the mysterious stone structure. Courtesy Chipola Divers, LLC.

Archaeologists investigated the site to some degree prior to the 1958 completion of the Jim Woodruff Dam which inundated it beneath the waters of the massive reservoir. They reached no conclusions on its origin other than to speculate that it could have been built by early settlers or even Native Americans.

The only artifacts recovered during the excavations were fragments of English china dating from the 1790-1850 era.

Now that the structure has been relocated, Two Egg TV will work with officials and marine archaeologists to encourage new research at the site using the latest underwater archaeology techniques.

Spring Creek is a tributary of the Flint River and runs through Southwest Georgia before entering Lake Seminole along the border between Seminole and Decatur Counties.

Stay tuned, the answers to the mysteries of who built the structure and why may be coming soon!

Click the play button below to watch the first parts of our search from last summer:

Two Egg TV plans MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT on mysterious stone structure at bottom of Lake Seminole

(Two Egg, Florida) – Two Egg TV, a multi-platform history and travel channel based near Two Egg, Florida, plans a major announcement for Saturday (February 10) regarding the channel’s joint search with Chipola Divers, LLC for a mysterious stone structure at the bottom of Lake Seminole.

Rachael Conrad, managing partner of the channel, indicated that the announcement is planned for 12 noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central.

Rachael Conrad, Managing Partner of Two Egg TV, aboard the search boat as it heads for shore.

The structure – known as “Jackson’s Oven” – has not been seen since the completion of the Jim Woodruff Dam in 1958. The resulting 37,500 acre reservoir flooded the structure and its exact location was lost over the 60-years that followed. Two Egg TV launched a major expedition to find the lost structure in the summer of 2017 and continued its search this week.

The origin and purpose of the unusual stone structure has been debated for more than 100-years. Early settlers thought that perhaps it had served as a bake oven for the U.S. Army during the Seminole Wars and accordingly named it “Jackson’s Oven.” More recently, however, theories as to its origin and purpose have surged. Multiple writers have claimed that it was a temple built by ancient Maya who crossed the Gulf of Mexico from Central America. Another has speculated that it was a Viking burial cairn built by the ancient Norse.

Historian and author Dale Cox, who has researched the structure, believes that it actually dates from the early 19th century and points out that artifacts found around it during the 1940s by the Smithsonian all appear to date from the 1790-1860 time period.

Two Egg TV and Chipola Divers resumed their search of Spring Creek on the border between Seminole and Decatur Counties in Georgia earlier this week. They ended it less than three hours later.

To learn more about Two Egg TV’s search for the structure, click play below to watch the results of last summer’s efforts:

]]>Vacapachasie: Black Seminole chief in Jackson County, Floridahttp://twoegg.tv/2018/02/vacapachassie/
Sun, 04 Feb 2018 14:05:53 +0000http://twoegg.tv/?p=1284A Black Seminole (left) is shown as being present at the saving of Duncan McKrimmon by Milly Francis in this artistic impression.

The story of the maroons or “Black Seminoles” is one of the most interesting in Florida history.

Maroons were escaped slaves. Slavery was against the law in Spanish Florida for much of its colonial history. In fact, the first American “Underground Railroad” ran south, not north. African slaves from the Carolinas slipped south through the woods and swamps to freedom in Florida.

Spain granted them full citizenship if they converted to Catholicism. Many enlisted in the St. Augustine militia and a settlement was established for them at what is now Fort Mose Historic State Park just north of St. Augustine.

Some went to Cuba with other Spanish citizens when Florida was transferred to Great Britain in 1763 at the end of the French & Indian War. Others, however, moved to the Paynes Prarie area where the were absorbed by the Alachua Seminole bands under King Payne and Boleck (“Bowlegs”). They lived in towns of their own but were under the protection of and fought alongside the the Seminoles.

This migration to Native American towns continued after Spain regained control of Florida in 1783. William Augustus Bowles welcomed maroons to serve in the military forces of his “State of Muskogee” and sent parties of Miccosukee, Lower Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole warriors into Georgia to liberate slaves and bring them back to Florida. A large community of maroons grew on the Apalachicola River near Ocheesee Bluff in today’s Calhoun County during this era and they continued to live there after the capture and death of Bowles, adapting to the lifestyles of their Native American neighbors.

The most prominent of the Apalachicola River Black Seminoles was an individual called Vacapachasie or “Cow Driver” by the Spanish but the “Mulatto King” by white Americans.

Little is known of his early life, but he was living in freedom on the Apalachicola River when the British arrived at Prospect Bluff during the War of 1812. No fan of the United States, Vacapachasie quickly enlisted in the battalion of Colonial Marines that Great Britain formed at the bluff in 1814-1815. He received military training there under the direction of Lt. Col. Edward Nicolls and Maj. George Woodbine of the Royal Marines, learning marine and light infantry tactics as well as instruction in both field and heavy artillery.

Prospect Bluff, site of the British Post (later called the “Negro Fort) and Fort Gadsden, was the scene of the deadliest cannon shot in American history.

The “Cow Driver” was among the men who remained behind at the Fort at Prospect Bluff – called the “Negro Fort” by American authorities – when the British withdrew from the river during the late spring of 1815. Whether he was there when U.S. forces blew up the fort, killing 270 of the 320 men, women and children inside, is not known.

Vacapachasie emerged as a chief in the Lower (Muscogee) Creek towns of Tamathli and Choconicla by 1817. Old Yellow Hair, who lived at Choconicla, was the principal chief of these towns but Vacapachasie was the leading figure in Tamathli were a large number of maroons or Black Seminoles had settled. The two adjoining towns were located just south of today’s Historic Highway 90 (U.S. 90) between the Town of Sneads and the west bank of the Apalachicola River in what is now Jackson County, Florida.

Yellow Hair sided with the United States when the Seminole War erupted during the winter of 1817-1818. Vacapachasie, however, had no interest in such an alliance and joined the alliance fighting against the U.S. military. He likely was present at the attack on Lt. Scott’s command at today’s Chattahoochee in which 34 U.S. soldiers, 6 women and 4 children were killed. When Yellow Hair was broken from power by Lt. Col. Matthew Arbuckle after his warriors accidentally fired on a canoe of “friendly” warriors, John Blunt was named to replace him as principal chief of the Apalachicola towns. This power vacuum also created room for Vacapachasie:

The reserve assigned to Vacapachasie (Mulatto King) can be seen in this 1839 diagram. The dotted line illustrates its outline.

…Blunt succeeded to the station of head chief of the towns, and Mulatto King, or Vacapichassee, the cowdriver, was made head chief of Choconicla by Colonel Arbuckle. Mulatto is half negro and Indian, was always a bitter enemy of the Americans, is bad tempered, insubordinate and mischievious, and would be more so but that he is totally without courage. [1]

The description above was written by John D. Westcott, Jr, the acting-Governor of Florida, in 1833. The language that he used with regard to Vacapachasie was consistent with that used by U.S. authorities to describe any chief who opposed the “removal” of the Seminole and Miccosukee people to the West on the Trail of Tears.

Col. Blunt, as chief John Blunt was known, told American authorities in 1833 that Mulatto King had bitterly opposed them during the War of 1812 and the 1817-1818 outbreak of the Seminole War. “Old Mulatto King was their enemy; he was always mine for that reason,” he explained. “When I was General Jackson’s guide, he was skulking in the swamps, and in the negro fort with the hostile Indians and Spaniards, and Indians and negroes.” [2]

Vacapachasie was on good enough terms with the whites by 1823 that they carved out a reserve for him on the Apalachicola during the negotiations of the Treaty of Moultrie Creek:

…For Mulatto King and Emathlochee, a reservation, commencing on the Apalachicola, at a point to include Yellow Hair’s improvements; thence, up said river, for four miles; thence, west, one mile; thence southerly, to a point one mile west of the beginning; and thence, east, to the beginning point. [3]

A town of one of the Apalachicola bands as drawn by the Comte de Castelnau, a French nobleman, in 1838-1839.

Emathlochee was the chief of the Attapulgus band, which eventually settled with Vacapachasie after being driven from its original home in Southwest Georgia in 1817-1818.

The new reservation lay along the Apalachicola River just east of Sneads. It ran from about today’s CSX railroad south to the former Gulf Power generating plant. A reserve for the chiefs Blunt and Cochrane lay to the south in Calhoun County while one for Econchattimico was established about 10 miles north of Sneads on the west bank of the Chattahocohee River.

Early settlers flooded in around the limits of these three reserves and by 1830 pressure was on for the remaining chiefs and warriors to give up their lands and move west. Blunt favored leaving the Apalachicola River with his followers and relocating to the Trinity River in Texas, but Vacapachasie and Econchattimico opposed any movement and especially any movement to Texas. Econchattimico was too powerful to be removed from his position, but Blunt “broke” Vacapachasie and ordered that he be replaced by his principal sub-chief, Hiatiga:

The site of Vacapachasie’s reserve as it appears today.

…The Governor considered Blunt had the authority to do so, and as Mulatto King had been guilty of diverse acts of misconduct, had disobeyed orders, was imprudent and troublesome, and behaved altogether quite badly, he did not disapprove Blunt’s course. Hiatiga was an intelligent and smart Indian, and exceedingly well disposes, consulting the true interests of the town; he was in favor of going with Blunt to Texas. Blunt invited him and Young Yellow Hair to go with his exploration party to Texas, and paid their expenses out of his own funds. Last spring Hiatiga, while on a visit to Gov. Duval on business, died. [4]

“Young Yellow Hair” or John Yellow Hair was Old Yellow Hair’s son. Blunt elevated him to chief of the now blended towns of Choconicla and Tamathli upon the death of Hiatiga but Vacapachasie immediately launched a quiet campaign to regain his former position of leadership.

The railroad trestle at Chattahoochee marks the northern limit of Vacapachasie’s reserve, which was on the right or west bank in this view.

William S. Pope, who lived at Pope’s Store near the reserve, was named U.S. Sub-Agent to the Apalachicola bands and sided with the old Black Seminole chief in the dispute and against Blunt and Acting-Governor Westcott. Col. James Gadsden, who had negotiated the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, was summoned to the scene and decided that Vacapachasie and Pope were on the correct side of the argument:

…At [Pope’s] instance, however, Col. Gadsden was requested again to attend at his town, and did so. To ascertain who was the chief, I understand he consulted the Indians then present, a majority of whom designated Mulatto King, who was also stated to be the chief by the sub-agent. I had regarded Yellow Hair as the head chief of the town, and think he should have been so considered. [5]

Members of one of the Apalachicola bands paddle downstream to Vacapachasie’s Reserve in this drawing by the Comte de Castelnau. The structure from which it was drawn was an old tavern that stood on one of the prehistoric American Indian mounds at River Landing Park in Chattahoochee.

Vacapachasie was returned to his position of leadership by Col. Gadsden but John Yellow Hair was broken from power. The government signed new treaties with the Apalachicola bands at Pope’s Store, offering to deed to them the land of their reserves if they would agree to a reduction in the size of their holdings. Because this would give them absolute legal title to the property, both Mulatto King and Econchattimico agreed to sign the treaty although they continued to oppose relocation to the West.

John Blunt and his band left the Apalachicola for Texas in 1833-1834, taking with them some of John Yellow Hair’s people. Their descendants live on the Trinity River to this day.

Econchattimico and Vacapachasie remained behind, but pressure on them increased dramatically. White slave stealers convinced local citizens that the two chiefs contemplated violence so they entered the reserves and disarmed the chiefs and their warriors, leaving them in a defenseless state. This accomplished, the slave stealers raided the reserves and carried away Black Seminoles from them and sold them into slavery. Econchattimico sued for their return in Federal court and won, but the lost people were never brought back.

Vacapachasie passed away during these years and was buried on his remaining lands. His sub-chief John Walker ascended to the leadership of his band. He and Econchattimico were forced to give up their lands and move west to what is now Oklahoma in 1838 as Seminole War once again raged across Florida. Gen. Zachary Taylor, who later became President of the United States, personally supervised their forced removal by U.S. troops. Vacapachasie’s son, Jack Vaca, was among those who made the long journey west on the Trail of Tears.

Legend holds that the headless ghost of Vacapachasie, Coa-Hadjo and Lewis haunt the site of the reserve.

The story of the Black Seminole leader might have ended then with the taking of his lands from his descendants and followers were it not for a bizarre episode that followed.

As soon as the inhabitants were gone, Dr. Joseph R. Buchanan of Cincinnati, Ohio, appeared on the former reserve and dug up the graves of Vacapachasie, the Muskogee (Creek) chief Coa-Hadjo and a warrior named Lewis. Buchanan was a phrenologist.

Phrenology was a now-discredited science which held that the personality and other important information about a deceased individual could be determined through the study of their skull. He took the heads of Vacapachasie, Coa-Hadjo and Lewis back to his laboratory in Cincinnati and made them part of his display.

Vacapachasie’s descendants live in Oklahoma to this day, not far from the modern city of Muskogee. The site of his Jackson County preserve can be seen along the west bank of the Apalachicola River from the CSX trestle that connects Chattahoochee and Sneads south to the vicinity of the now-closed Gulf Power plant.

To learn more about the story of the “Negro Fort” at Prospect Bluff, where the chief once served in the British Colonial Marines, please enjoy the video below by clicking the play button:

[1] John D. Westcott, Jr., acting-governor of Florida, to E. Herring, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, November 13, 1833.

[2] Statement of John Blunt given in conference with Indian Agent Wiley Thompson, October 28, 1833.

[3] Additional Article of the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, September 18, 1833.

[4] Westcott to Herring, November 13, 1833.

[5] Ibid.

]]>A 19th Century Witching in Washington County, Floridahttp://twoegg.tv/2018/01/witching/
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 14:48:56 +0000http://twoegg.tv/?p=1275You can learn more about the colorful history of Washington County at the museum in Chipley. Click on the photo for more information.

Newspapers of the 19th century were more accepting in general of the existence of ghosts, demons and haunts than are the cynical media outlets today. As a result, we know much more about the strange happenings of that era than we do about those of our own time.

A good example is an incident that reportedly took place in Washington County in 1883. It story appeared in the Marianna Times and picked up by other newspapers around the country:

We heard recently of a man, over in Washington county, who is strangely affected. When in his house he burns all over as if with fire, until his torment is well nigh unbearable. When he leaves his house the torment ceases. The afflicted one went to a medicine man who told the sick one that there was a medicine to cure him, and that this cure was in an augur hole stopped up by a plug of wood.[1]

The augur hole was apparently to be found hidden in the unidentified man’s home. The article does not explain how the “medicine man” – a term commonly used for an herb doctor – knew where the cure for the victim’s bizarre affliction would be found, but he was apparently correct in his diagnosis:

…The afflicted took some of the cure (whether found in the augur hole or not, we did not hear), and was relieved instantly of his malady – the devil was exorcised – but his wife fell prone, screaming and fainting.[2]

The fate of the wife is not known but the implication of the article was that she had placed a spell or curse on her husband. One of the newspapers that republished the account, in fact, called it a “sublime story of voodooism.” Spells and potions to cause such harm were fairly common in the Deep South and Caribbean during the 18th and 19th century. Whether they actually worked is another story, although people who believed that they were being “witched” often experienced real symptoms.

Whatever the truth of the incident, it is an intriguing story from the history of Northwest Florida that was reported as news in 1893.

Dale Cox
January 31, 2018

To learn about other bizarre stories from Washington County’s past, just click the play button below:

[1] 1893 article from the Marianna Times, published in Texas Siftings, September 29, 1883.

Lynching is usually represented to be a racial crime – and it often was – but the first recorded lynching in Jackson County had nothing to do with race.

A mob strung up James Avant and William Powers in Marianna on June 20, 1845. Both men were white:

In our last paper we spoke of the apprehension of a man by the name of Avant and one of his confederates, near Apalachicola. They have since been taken to Marianna, in Jackson county, where they were hanged on Friday, the 20th inst. without the form of trial; and notice was, at the same time, given to four gentlemen of the blackleg order, that if they were found in the place after the lapse of 10 hours, they should share the same fate. (1)

Marianna as it appeared in the 19th century.

The story of the lynching is shrouded in mystery but it is clear that the mob considered both Avant and Powers to be outlaws. Little is known about William Powers, but more detail is available on the life of James Avant. He first attracted attention in Florida when he became involved in a confrontation with a Pensacola businessman named Henry A. Nunes.

The nature of the dispute between the two men is not known, but Avant was charged with shooting and badly wounding Nunes:

Avant was a monster in human form, and his life for a series of years has been marked by crimes of the deepest dye. He came to our city some years ago, a fugitive from justice of the state of Alabama, where he had murdered a sheriff. He had not been here long before he attempted the assassination of one of our citizens, and being obliged to fly from here, he went to Marianna, where he was concerned in the murder of another officer. (2)

Records in the Jackson County Courthouse do not mention Lewis Williams, the victim of the murder that led to the lynching of Avant and Powers.

The officer that Avant was accused of murdering in Marianna was Lewis Williams, who some historians have incorrectly claimed was the Sheriff of Jackson County. William Wilbanks, for example, wrote in Forgotten Heroes: Police Officers Killed in Early Florida, 1840-1925 that Williams was the local sheriff when he was murdered by Avant and William H. Watson in a swamp near Marianna on April 26, 1844. (3)

Based on this and other books, the name of Lewis Williams was added to the National Law Enforcement Memorial in 1997.

Williams may have been a law enforcement officer, but he was not the sheriff of Jackson County in 1844. Sheriff Samuel Stephens had been reelected in November 1843 and began his new term on April 20, 1844, just six days before Lewis Williams was allegedly killed by Avant and Watson. Stephens ran unopposed and received all 312 of the 312 votes vast in the race. (4)

Marianna’s historic Davis-West House was built at about the time of the Avant/Powers Lynching.

It is possible that Williams was a deputy sheriff, but if so he served for so short a time that he neither collected nor was owed any pay. Records in the office of the Jackson County Clerk of the Circuit Court do not mention Williams at all. The courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1848, but the records of the clerk’s office were stored elsewhere and survive to this day. (5)

Curiously, though, those same records reveal that the accused outlaw James Avant was himself a law enforcement officer in Jackson County. He was named the Constable for District Three on November 8, 1843, two days after Stephens was reelected to the post of sheriff. How a wanted man from Pensacola became a constable in Jackson County is yet another mysterious twist to the story. (6)

So who was Lewis Williams, the law enforcement officer said to have been murdered by Avant and Powers? The long and short answer is that no one knows. His name does not appear on the 1840 U.S. Census for Jackson County and the reward offer placed for the arrest of the suspects in his murder makes no mention of him being an officer:

Avant and Watson fled into the Chipola River swamps after the killing of Lewis Williams. Legend holds that Alamo Cave near Marianna once served as a hideout for such outlaws.

Whereas, it has been made known to me that William H. Watson and James Avant, late of the county of Jackson, stand charged with the murder of Lewis Williams, late of the county aforesaid, and that they, the said Watson and Avant, are fugitives from justice:

Now, therefore, be it known, that in pursuance of low, I do hereby offer a reward of $200 for the apprehension and delivery of each of the said offenders, to the Marshal of the Apalachicola district of Florida, or to the sheriff of Jackson County. (7)

Further confusing the matter are newspaper reports from 1844-1845 which indicate that Avant and Watson were wanted not for murder, but arson! (8)

Regardless, the two men fled into the Chipola River swamps. Watson had suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder in the encounter with Williams and needed time to recuperate. Avant, meanwhile, established a hideout in the vast wetlands north of Apalachicola and assembled a gang of outlaws that joined him in preying on travelers and local citizens. William Powers and four or five other men were part of this band:

Avant and Powers were captured in the vast floodplain swamps near Apalachicola, Florida.

The peace and well-being of the community demanded that such a villain should meet with retribution for his outrages – and owing to the insufficiency of our territorial government no jails have been provided for the security of criminals; he and his accomplices, therefore, in order to insure them punishment, were brought to speedy execution.

Those concerned were actuated by another motive – there still are remaining a number of men of the same desperate character in the swamps about the county, and an example, which the process of law could not afford, was necessary to strike them with terror. (9)

Avant and Powers were captured near Apalachicola by William Blount in June 1845. Whether he held any law enforcement capacity is not known, but he did collect the $200 reward offered by the state for Avant’s apprehension. (10)

Riverside Cemetery was Marianna’s only public burial ground in 1845. Avant and Powers were likely buried here.

Although the arrest of the two suspects was legal under Florida law, what followed was not. Taken by a mob, they were brought to Marianna and unlawfully hanged on June 20, 1845. The Pensacola Gazette and other newspapers attempted to justify the murders of the two men by pointing out the crimes that they had allegedly committed.

William Watson, meanwhile, eluded capture and soon made his way to Newnansville where he lived under the alias of “James Black” for three years. He was accused of murdering Sheriff William Gibbons of Alachua County in 1848 after the two men engaged in a dispute over the outcome of a poker game:

Notwithstanding that Black, who had been accused of the murder of Mr. Wm. Gibbons, was discharged by the magistrate immediately after the affair, such was the excitement of the citizens of Alachua county against him that they forcibly detained him in custody, with a daily and nightly guard, until the session of the Circuit Court for that county. The Grand Jury then found a true bill against him for murder. At his request the venue for his trial was removed to this county [i.e. Duval]. (11)

“Black” was identified as William H. Watson, the wanted suspect in the Jackson County murder of Lewis Williams, by the bullet wound in his shoulder. His father gave further confirmation before promptly helping his son escape from the Duval County Jail. Both men – father and son – disappeared and it does not appear that justice was ever served in the case.

The lynching of James Avant and William Powers challenges much that is accepted about such extrajudicial murders in the Deep South. Race was not a factor in the incident, which could definitely be described as a “spectacle lynching.” One of the victims, Avant, was even a law enforcement officer. His ability to escape following two previous incidents of violence played a major part in his death at the hands of a Marianna lynch mob. Newspapers noted that residents did not trust the Territorial government to assure that justice would be served for the killing of Lewis Williams.

Two Egg TV takes you there for a look at this remarkable place! Just click the play button to watch our video:

Although the Town of Magnolia Springs did not come into being until 2006, the community has a long and rich history.

Magnolia Springs is one of the prettiest towns in Alabama.

The first settlers arrived in the 1700s to take advantage of the pure, clear water that flows from the springs along the Magnolia River. Bricks were made here during the early 1800s to supply the needs of the U.S. Army in the construction of Fort Morgan on Mobile Point. The river offered protected shelter for small ships and easy access to Mobile Bay.

Union troops obtained water from the largest of the springs during the 1865 Mobile Bay Campaign, but it was the time of peace following the brutal war that gave the community its real founding. Veterans from both the Union and Confederate armies settled here to live peacefully, side by side, along the beautiful Magnolia River.

The beautiful old live oaks, canopy streets and National Historic District survive as reminders of the late 19th century prosperity and charm of the community.

]]>Newly revealed letter confirms Greenwood connection to Alcatraz escape?http://twoegg.tv/2018/01/alcatraz/
http://twoegg.tv/2018/01/alcatraz/#commentsWed, 24 Jan 2018 09:35:51 +0000http://twoegg.tv/?p=1247Greenwood Town Hall in Greenwood, Florida. Two of the escapees may have been spotted in the area several decades ago.

A San Francisco television station has uncovered a 2013 letter that offers some confirmation to claims of a Jackson County connection to the notorious 1962 Escape from Alcatraz.

The letter was obtained by KPIX 5 and is very similar to one that I received on June 20, 2014. It basically says that Clarence Anglin, John Anglin and Frank Lee Morris survived their crossing of San Francisco Bay – as dramatized in the Clint Eastwood movie Escape From Alcatraz – and eluded the pursuit of FBI agents and U.S. Marshals for more than 50 years. The writer claimed to have been John Anglin, one of the three escapees.

That story detailed how the U.S. Marshals Service and Jackson County Sheriff’s Department searched for the three escapees in the Greenwood area in 1990 after receiving a tip from a woman identified only as “Kathy.” She claimed to have seen two of them on the farm of a relative and offered compelling enough information that a major search was launched.

The 2013 letter obtained by the San Francisco television station and the 2014 comment that I received have several strong similarities. Each has similar grammatical mistakes. Each indicates that all three escapees survived their voyage from the prison on a homemade rubber raft. Each indicates that by that time (2013-2014), only one of the men was still alive. Each claims that the men avoided trouble for the rest of their lives as a means of escaping detection.

The escapees were not found in Jackson County but there was considerable circumstantial evidence that they might have been here. They grew up in Seminole and Early Counties, Georgia, just 25 miles from the Greenwood sighting location. They were sent to Federal prison for robbing the bank in Columbia, Alabama, which is less than 40 miles from Greenwood. Their trial took place in Dothan.

John Anglin as he might appear today (FBI).

Additional evidence that John Anglin could be in the Wiregrass area surfaced in 1963 when a man matching his description passed a fraudulent check at a business in Brundidge, Alabama – about one and one-half hours north of Greenwood. The FBI examined the check and its handwriting analysts determined that the writing on it was so similar to that of John Anglin that they were unable to determine “whether ANGLIN did or did not” write it.

The San Francisco letter claims that the men lived in the Pacific Northwest, the Great Plains and that John Anglin lived in Southern California by 2013. The Greenwood claims were made in 1989-1990 and the informant, “Kathy,” suggested that the men had lived in Jackson County for decades.

U.S. Marshals and FBI Agents did search for the men in nearby Southwest Georgia following the 1962 escape, but there is no evidence that they looked across the Chattahoochee River in Florida at that time. It is an area where escapees had – and still have – relatives. They were familiar with the region and the multiple jurisdictions caused by the joining of three states in the vicinity would have made it easier for them to “hide in plain sight.”

In addition, multiple bank robberies were carried out in the area by two men matching the descriptions of two of the escapees during the 1960s. None of those robberies has been solved.

Further circumstantial support for the survival of the men can be found in a photograph aired recently by The History Channel that supposedly shows the escapees alive and in South America during the 1960s or 1970s. There were no identifiable landmarks in the photograph, however, and investigators could not determine whether the men seen in it were actually the Anglins and Frank Morris.

We are in the final stages of completing our new documentary on the local connections to the Alcatraz escape and expect to release it before the end of this month. Watch for further details in coming days.